Introduction

Biography

Alexander was the son of phy­si­cian Al­ex­an­der Ew­ing and Bar­ba­ra Mc­Com­bie.

He stu­died law at Mar­is­chal Col­lege in Ab­er­deen. He had lit­tle in­cli­na­tion for that pro­fes­sion, though, and was al­lowed to aban­don it and go to Hei­del­berg to stu­dy Ger­man and mu­sic.

During the Cri­me­an War in 1855, Ew­ing joined the ar­my. After­ward, he went to South Aus­tral­ia, then Chi­na, where he took part in the cam­paigns of 1860 and 1862.

He re­turned to Eng­land in 1866. The next year, he mar­ried Ju­li­a­na Ho­ra­tia Gat­ty, au­thor of Jack­a­napes; se­cond daugh­ter of Al­fred Gat­ty, vi­car of Ecc­les­field and sub-dean of York Ca­thed­ral; and sis­ter of Al­fred Scott-Gat­ty.

After se­ver­al more years of for­eign ser­vice, Ew­ing re­turned to En­gland in 1883, and re­tired from the ar­my in 1889.

Ewing’s true love was al­ways mu­sic. A mem­ber of the Har­mon­ic Choir in Ab­er­deen, he brought his new­ly writ­ten tune Ew­ing to prac­tice one night, and that choir was the first to ev­er sing it.